Saturday, February 28, 2009

Iran welcomes Palestine unity government

Iran welcomes reconciliation talks between rival Palestinian factions aimed at establishing a unity government by the end of March.

"Iran always supports national unity and agreement between different political factions in Palestine. We call on Palestinians to remain united and guard the achievements of their resistance (against Israel)," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said Saturday.

"Discord will lead to the violation of the rights of the Palestinian people and will only serve the interests of Israel and its international allies," he added. During the two-day Egyptian-brokered talks in Cairo, the Hamas and Fatah movements agreed to form several committees that would pave the way for a unity government and pledged to continue negotiations and work toward the election of a new government. The two long-time political rivals will pursue confidence-building measures in order to resolve the fate of prisoners detained by both sides and to halt the exchange of accusations. Following Israel's three-week onslaught on the impoverished coastal sliver, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,300 Gazans -- mostly women and children --, Egypt managed to bring Fatah and Hamas to the negotiation table and restart the Palestinian unity talks. Egypt had initially asked for the Palestinian reconciliation dialogue in November. Hamas, however, pulled out of the talks in protest at the continued detention of Hamas members in the West Bank by Fatah. Qashqavi warned against Israel's "illegal approach" to demolish Palestinian homes, calling on regional and international bodies including the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the UNESCO and the United Nations to adopt a firmer stance toward Israeli actions.